Carpe Diem
by Gelly-MacANDChibiJojo
Summary: It is Remus' birthday and Sirius and James set out to make sure that it will be one that he never forgets ... and the rest of the school doesn't, either.  Sirius' grey eyes were gleaming."Preparation for what, exactly?" "Making memories."  R&R.


**Hello everyone. It is Gelly-mac here! **

**I don't know, but this idea sort of popped up in my head a couple days ago, so I thought I'd write it. Just supposed to be a short, funny one-shot. Now, this is my first _Harry Potter_ fanfic so please go easy on me!**

**I apologise for any mistakes and spelling errors! And remember, reviews are always appreciated! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the _Harry Potter _Series whatsoever. **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Remus Lupin wasn't particularly a heavy sleeper. No, not at all. Usually even the slightest amount of noise would rouse the young adult out of his peaceful slumber; this including Sirius walking around the dorm in the middle of the night when he couldn't fall asleep, and even James rustling and "tip-toeing" around to sneak downs stairs into the common room for a late night "meeting" with Lily that he thinks no one knows about – light sleeper, remember? – and jumping back into bed a three in the morning. Sometimes it got so bad around the middle of the month that he could even hear Peter's little mousy feet scurrying around on the carpet – <em>carpet<em> – of their room for Merlin-only-knows what reason – werewolf, remember?

So since it was always around the time of the full moon that his senses were at their highest, that meant that his emotions were too, and _that_ meant that whatever poor soul was unlucky enough to wake the wolf from his slumber ended up with a mouth full of pillows, and even – in Sirius' case – shoes and an extra heavy copy of _Hogwarts: A History_ – special addition – which now had a permanent blood stain on the spine.

"There, now your book has been blessed. You're welcome." Sirius had commented, being the joker he was, trying to mask the pain of that big growing lump on his head with humour, or simply because he was _Sirius_ and that little voice in the back of your head that tells you the right and wrong things to say was non-existent. This little slip of the tongue had caused him to be attacked by a flying _History of Magic_, a rolled up _Daily Prophet_, five more shoes and a hard-back copy of _Oliver Twist _in an area that _immediately_ sent the little voice running back with flowers, confetti and a box of Kleenex.

Granted all this, Remus really should have woken up the second sleep doused feet thumped onto the floor; when James stubbed his toe on Sirius' guitar and threw it on to the flea bag's bed, it landing on the post with a loud bang and a chime of out-of-tune guitar strings. Also the amount of swear words that erupted from the boy's mouth, and their raising crescendo.

But what _really_ should have woken him was the teeth clenching shriek of his bed curtains being ripped open, and _not_ the high pitched whistle that sounded through his eardrums moments later.

Remus flew off the mattress as if it were on fire, missing the post by a hair, screaming Bloody Mary. His attempt to block out the shrieking whistle with his hands over his ears was futile. He couldn't believe it – hoped to Merlin he was still dreaming and in a moment he would wake up from his nightmare to find it was only Sirius thumping around, getting dressed in hopes of being served breakfast early – because as soon as he placed his palms over his reddening ears that incisive chirping only escalated.

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS THAT THING?" Remus screamed over the whistle, if it were possible, and for a moment he wasn't sure whether James had heard him.

"OH, NEW RELEACE IN WHISTLE TECHNOLOGY! JUST CAME OUT THE OTHER WEEK! YOU CAN MAKE IT GO UP TO _HIGH F_ – EVEN HIGHER IF YOU KNOW HOW TO! COOL, HUH? DOGS SHOULD BE HOWLING TO THE HEAVENS BY NOW!" James shouted back, a wide grin spread across his face. Remus pictured how it would look surrounded by white cushioned walls.

Remus noted that James hadn't put his glasses on yet, so he would have a hard time dodging Remus' fist if it were to come flying at him.

"CAN YOU MAKE IT _STOP!_" Remus backed himself up against the wall. Wasn't James at all concerned that he may have just woken the entire castle and village up? He looked out the window, expecting to see an angry mob making their way with pitch forks and torches over to the castle right now.

Then, with one final ear-killing shriek the whistle shut off. Remus' ears rang momentarily before complete silence. It was _beautiful_.

He then rounded on James, noticing that the human alarm clock had put his glasses on. Good, it would hurt more for Remus to punch him with those on. He also noticed Peter sitting in the safe vicinity of his bed, keeping well out of the werewolf's way. Smart boy.

Remus raised his fist, but it never met its target. "_What the hell was that?_" Remus snarled as James let go of his fist. "For the sake of my sanity, James, what logical purpose could there have been for that?"

Antler-boy had the audacity to laugh. "Sorry, Moony, got a bit carried away there. Anyway, the real reason behind the wake up call was this – " James waved his wand in the air and Remus reflexively blocked his ears, thinking he were about to set of another explosion of chirping.

What he didn't expect, however, were to words 'Happy 17th Birthday, Moony' to materialise in thin air and explode in a shower of red and gold.

It was his birthday. Oh, yeah. That's right. With all the hullabaloo he had completely forgotten.

The next moment he was being pounced on by James, who cried. "Happy 17th, mate! Cheers!" Remus rolled his eyes and shoved James off him. In different circumstances it would have been a sweet gesture, but _really?_ And – oh, great – look: they've woken poor Frank!

Remus had about a hundred retorts ready when Peter asked, "Hey, where's Sirius?"

Oh yeah. "He's probably dead somewhere. Your bloody whistle probably killed him, James!" Remus shouted, remembering James' "Dogs should be howling by now" comment. "You probably burst he eardrums and now he's lying _dead_ face first in one of Hargid's pumpkins!"

Neither would ever admit it, but they had to hold back laughter at the image.

"Nah, I'm sure Padfoot's fine!" James waved off. "Now, Moony, you need to open your presents – "

"You know what the best gift you could give me right now would be, James? That you don't talk to me for a while."

"Aw, come on, Moony. Don't be like that!"

"Go away."

"It's your birthday!"

"Then you should do as I tell you."

"Come on, Moony! Moony? Remus? Don't be a sour puss! Hey – if you want, I'll get you one off these whistles and you can get back at me!"

"James, since you're my best friend I'll give you the option: do you want your head thrown into the Forbidden Forest of hung up on a bannister?"

"I'm sorry!"

"You'll be the envy of Nearly Headless Nick."

**ooooooooooooooooooo**

Since that little "gift" went so well, Remus thought his friends would be insane to dare try anything else. He was wrong.

After much more shouting and death threats – one in which Remus was pretty sure he'd just got on the list of half the ghosts in the castle, and maybe even a couple portraits – he finally agreed to open another one of James' presents. They he opened Peter's. He was thoroughly surprised.

Together James and Peter had bought him a note book, so that he didn't have to write all of his study notes on loose parchment that went missing half the time making him resort to Summoning charms to get them back, resulting in many paper cuts. They also bought him a brand new quill and three bottles of ink since his last bottle was just about bone dry, and two pairs of thick leather gloves for the winter.

Remus found it hard to stay mad at them after that, no matter how hard he tried.

"Thank you, Prongs, Wormtail. They're great. Just promise me no more "presents" like that one this morning?"

James nodded earnestly, so that his hair swished around his head, but grinned as he did so. "Yes, of course," He raised his left hand, "Stags' honer!"

Remus smirked, "I'm not really sure you can swear by that, but appreciated nevertheless."

"Swear by what?"

The three turned around to see a girl with fiery red hair waltzing their way. James immediately straightened up and smiled broadly. Lily linked her arm around his waist.

"I made Prongs promise no more loud wake up calls." Remus explained and watched Lily's eyes widen amazingly.

"Wait, that screaming thing this morning?" She stared up at the boyfriend, who grinned innocently back, "That was _you? _We thought some one was being murdered!"

"Someone almost was," Remus glared at James. "But he narrowly escaped."

Lily smacked James' arm, causing him to wince and Remus to laugh. "How could you do that to your best friend? And on his _birthday! _– Oh!" She suddenly let go of James and turned to Remus, "Happy 17th birthday, by the way!" She congratulated and gave her friend a quick hug. Lily then noticed something that they all had forgotten about.

"Hey, where is Sirius?"

Her question need not be answered by any of the marauders, for the question answered itself mere heartbeats later in the form of the tall, black haired dog Animagus himself. Remus cried out on the account of Sirius, who had this uncanny knack for manifesting out of thin air when you least expect it, glomping the poor werewolf boy from behind.

Remus struggled under Sirius' weight but managed to stay standing. Sirius on the other hand, hovered there with his arms firmly around the shorter boy's shoulders, a cartoonishly big smile plastered on his face before he bellowed at the top of his lungs, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOONY!" (He was as good as the freaking whistle!) and planted a big kiss on the side of Remus' head.

"Arrgh!" Remus tried to push Sirius off him but, unlike James, he didn't budge. Instead he just wiped the side of his head where Sirius kissed him. "Do you _have_ to do that every year?" He whined.

"Yes. Yes, I do. So you should be used to it by now!" Sirius gave him another quick peck for good measure before finally releasing him. "So, what'd I miss?"

"Remus insulted half the castle and then we gave him our presents." James informed.

Sirius raised an eyebrow, smirking. "Wow. You're gone twenty minutes … "

"Yeah, where were you?" Remus asked, his irritation and annoyance being smothered by curiosity.

Sirius only continued to grin, looking around the Hogwarts court yard as if expecting something. "Oh, you know … one must always give his best for everything he does, and must be on full alert to make sure that things are perfectly memorable in spite of all things that may or may not happen in the day. Because, really, a day must be seized to its fullest capacity, but _really_; when can you actually say a day has been seized? When can you be _sure_? Truly sure, that it has been seized? Until it is over, I would say? Until the big, round wonder we humans call the moon sits proud in the night sky, shining down upon us all. How 'bout you, my dear James?"

James smirked, "I quite agree with you there, Sirius."

Remus blinked up at Sirius, and pictured _him_ surrounded by white, as well. To his left he heard James and Peter stifle a laugh. "Sirius … _what_ are you rambling on about?"

"You will see, my young furry friend. You will see."

"See what? Have you _taken_ something?" His eyes widened quite comically. Sirius was actually quite good at containing his laughter, because on the inside he was rolling around on the floor. That's what Sirius Black was infamous for, after all: keeping a cool head.

"No, no. None of that!"

"Then what is going on? Where have you been all morning? What have you been doing?"

"Oh … preparation." Sirius' grey eyes were gleaming.

Was Remus the only one feeling scared?

"Preparation for what, exactly?"

"Making memories." Sirius smiled down at Remus maliciously.

"Oh, dear Lord, _what_ have you done, Padfoot?" Remus felt like crying. _Honestly_ felt like crying. But first ripping Sirius in two. Yeah, that would work … a big, grinning, bloody mess on the floor … why did his birthday have to be so close to the full moon?

Sirius shrugged. James finally lost it and started laughing. Lily was watching the scene unfold with cautious eyes. Remus was glad to find she looked almost as scared as him. Almost. "Made sure memories will be made. Because, Remy, we – meaning Prongsie and I, since Wormy was too chicken to join – " He glared at Peter playfully "have felt it in our duty, and the need, to place today in our hands and make sure it is one that you will never forget. That will stay with you your whole life. That you will take with you to your grave and the hereafter on – "

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it. _What have you two morons done?_" Remus snarled, trying his best to cover his fear with aggression.

Sirius rocked back on his heels and put both hands behind his head an a lazy gesture. He smiled at James.

"Would you like to do the honers, Padfoot?" James offered.

"Why I would love to, thank you, my dear James." His broad grin never faulting, Sirius looked over at the big clock on the side of the tower. Remus was pretty sure he had never felt this scared before in his life. Even when he found out he was a werewolf – yes, he was _that_ afraid.

In hindsight he probably should have expected … well – he wasn't really sure what he should have expected, nor did he know what was going to happen, what mischievous plan was behind Sirius' grin, because it hadn't happened yet. Remus boggled his brain for something, tried to imagine what they had in stall, but nothing happened to surface. It just happened to be one of those rare occasions where Sirius completely and utterly surprised him. And he did _not_ like those days.

He has known Sirius for years, yes – been friends with him for 6.5 of them – and he knew the man was mad the moment the first set of words left his mouth (it was something in the tone of voice, or in the eyes) and had often joked with James and Peter about throwing him in Azkaban ("It might have an opposite affect of him", he said when the three were contemplating the cure for his insanity), but there was always an occasion where the noble rebel would never cease to amaze him.

Like today, for instance.

Sirius took a deep breath and began, "Well, the inspiration struck a couple weeks ago, really, over half a dozen bottles of Butter Beer, coffee and holiday songs. We, as your bestest friends in the _whole wide world_, Remy" he grinned cutely down at him "thought, Hey! It's not every day you turn 17, is it? Why not make it an event that he will never forget?"

Remus gulped. Great, so his life and reputation were in the hands of Ode to Butter Beer.

"So, Moony, after weeks of planning we have finally come up with the perfect event for your birthday – one that I am sure you will never forget, and never let go of, either."

Remus braced himself for the worst. Maybe if he ran for it now he could camp out in the dungeons for a couple days until what every 'It' is calms down.

He had to ask …

"Please, Sirius. Put me out of my misery. What have you done?"

"Only a matter of time … "

"Is it dangerous?"

"No, not at all!"

"Is it legal?"

"No, not a all!" A nice, big padded cell … with a drink dispenser and everything …

"Will it get me expelled?"

"No, but it might get me expelled … but hey, it'll all be worth it!" Lock the door and throw the key down a nice deep well …

"Sirius … " Then blow the well up.

Finally, Lily – his salvation – spoke up. "Oh, come on, Black. What are you doing to the poor boy?" She shouted at him. She had her hands on her hips and was glaring at Sirius in a way that only she can, that if any body else tried it they'd find themselves lying flat on their back within seconds.

Sirius' eyes were shining brighter then the Sun now, and he held his hands up in surrender. "Ok, ok! I'll tell you. Well, first it was a matter of alerting the whole school that it was your birthday today – "

Remus almost face planted. "YOU DID WHAT?" He shouted, eyes wide and unbelieving. "I don't want the whole castle to know!"

"Too late! And then we had to get the fireworks set up and – "

"_Fireworks?_"

"Yes, fireworks, Remy. And then there was the matter of getting the birds sorted and into position and – Hey! Where're you going?" Sirius shouted after Remus' retreating figure, who shouted back,

"To grab my mattress and head down to the dungeons. I'll see you in a couple days!"

However, he didn't get very far because Sirius ran straight after him, slung the poor boy over his shoulder and dumped him right back where he was moments before. Remus was so confused and scared that he didn't know whether to cry, scream or punch the living daylights out of Sirius.

"I hate you – "

"Oh, no you don't, Moony!"

" – _I hate you, I hate you, I hate you! _Why? Why me?" Guess he was going to settle for sulking. Remus buried his head in his hands. "How did you do it by the way? Tell everyone it was my birthday? Post up a gigantic sign in the Great Hall, or something? Is there any chance Professor Dumbledore or Mcgonagall hasn't seen it yet?" He mumbled into his hands hopefully.

Sirius, on the other hand, scoffed and looked highly offended. "Post up a _giant sign? _Me? Do you even _know_ me, Remus? I find that beyond insulting – "

"Oh, I am _so_ – "

"And besides, that is much to slow a way to get a message out! If someone wanted to get information out quick they would just write it in big letters in the clouds!"

Remus gasped and flicked his head toward the sky so fast that it should have given him a whiplash. All that happened was that he had to turn his face back down as soon as it went up, his eyes watering. Stupid Sun.

But still, there were no words.

Sirius kicked a non-existent pebble and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, the amount of skill you would need to write letters in the sky with your wand … it's unfortunately above me … Hey, Lily?"

"No!" Remus felt like kissing her, but he didn't think James would be too happy about that.

"Fine. So anyway, I just transfigured one of my shoes into a megaphone – thanks for throwing my inspiration right at me, by the way, Moony – and ran around the castle a couple times shouting at the top of my lungs to make sure every body can hear me." He drew a spiral in the air on the words "ran around the castle".

Remus felt like face planting again when something suddenly clicked into place. He rounded on James, who was turning red,

"You! That whistle this morning! That was just to make sure that I couldn't hear Sirius screaming!" He pointed an accusing finger at Antler-boy.

"Guilty as charged!" He held up his hands, mirroring Sirius' previous gesture. "Believe it or not, but that noise didn't reach past Gryffindor tower."

Remus groaned and rounded back on Sirius, and stumbled back a step. Sirius was now holding a large purple muggle megaphone that he pulled out of thin air. Clicking the little red button on he shouted through the mouth piece right into Remus' face, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOONY!" before he and James began to sing at the top of their lungs.

"_Happy birthday to you_

_Happy birthday to you_

_Happy birthday, dear Remus!_

_Happy birthday to you!" _

What was worse is that the entire court yard joined in half way through the song, and were happily shouting "Hurray!" after Sirius' "Hip Hip!". This went on for another ten seconds, the entire court yard cheering happily (Hogwarts kids would do anything for a party, really. And this was as close as they could get at the moment so … ).

After all the "Hip hip, hurray!"s were over Sirius cheered at the top of his lungs over every other student in the vicinity through the megaphone, and followed to laugh like a hyena.

Unfortunately, his cheers were cut short, on the account of his megaphone being knocked away from him by Professor Mcgonagall, who had that stern eagle's glare in her eyes, challenging anyone to test her.

"Mr. Black!" She bellowed. "Will you stop this incisive hullabaloo immediately!"

Sirius smiled at her innocently, "Sorry, Professor. Just celebrating Remus' birthday!"

Mcgonagall didn't falter. "Yes, I can understand that, but you will do well to not disturb the entire castle in your celebrations!" She snarled before turning to Remus with an unbelievably soft expression. "By the way, happy birthday, Mr. Lupin."

Remus sent her an embarrassed and slightly apologetic smile, "Thanks, Professor."

With that she stalked away, after shooting Sirius with one last glare. The smile reappeared on the dog Animagus' face, as soon as she left, like magic. It was clear that he was about to start talking again – more plotting – but Remus beat him to it.

"No! You heard Professor, no more!" He growled at his so-called best friend. Ok, he understood that Sirius was just trying to give him a memorable birthday, but _really?_ This was just getting out of hand!

"But, Moony, we've still got the fireworks and birds to – "

"No, Sirius! I mean it, I really do! And if you think that – STOP LAUGHING!" Remus roared when Sirius let out a bark of laughter. When he didn't stop laughing Remus rounded on James again. He also noticed that Peter had deserted the scene. Probably left before he could get his head ripped off. Again, smart boy.

"And _you! _How could you let him do all this? Why – no, don't try and cover for him because I know you two didn't come up with this together! You went along with it just for fun! To see what would happen! You've done it before, so don't try and deny it! Oh – for crying out loud_ what is so funny?_"

Sirius had lost his internal battle with himself and was now doubled over, clutching his stomach as a series of howls of laughter rang through the air. Sirius straightened up just enough to be able to look Remus in the face and pointed at him, still shaking with laughter.

"Your face! You look like the world's about to end!"

"Yeah, well, knowing you, Sirius, it just might!"

"Oh, your being melodramatic!" James clapped him on the back and ruffled his light brown hair. Remus pushed James off of him again, and Sirius had finally contained the worst of his laughter.

"I am not being melodramatic; I'm being realistic! You two are going to get me into deep trouble just for your own amusement – !"

"_Arrwooooooooo_ – "

"STOP IT!" Remus slapped the megaphone away from Sirius' mouth, cutting of the imitation of a wolf's howl.

Sirius ignored him. "Hey, what time is it, Jamesie?"

James looked at his watch and grinned mischievously. "It is almost nine O' clock!" He announced happily.

"Perfect!" Sirius then lifted the megaphone back up and shouted through it, "_Everybody over to the lake in FIVE MINUTES for una presentación espectacular! Tell your friends!_"

People cheered and began finishing off whatever they were doing before beginning to move over to the lake side for whatever Sirius had planned. Remus wondered whether they would have gone over to the lake if Sirius told them even if there wasn't going to be a "Spectacular Presentation". People just seemed to follow him around any ways. And since when could Sirius Black speak Spanish?

Wait, getting off track – the "Spectacular Presentation"! Remus sighed. He could only guess it was the –

"Fireworks." He said in a tired monotone. It wasn't really a question either.

"Correct, my young furry friend!" Sirius congratulated. "And these aren't normal fireworks. Special order from Zonko's! These you can see in the day," He then dropped his voice, "and illegal in 17 countries … "

"WHAT?" Remus blanched. He heard it anyway (_Werewolf!_).

"Nothing!" Sirius slung and arm around Remus' shoulders and began steering him off toward the lake, with Lily and James at their heels. Even Lily was looking a little curious, and if not excited, to see what the two had done. _Traitor_, Remus thought bitterly, before he had to bite down a gasp, and that just caused him to choke.

He almost face planted. Again. That's three times in one hour!

The sight that greeted him was overwhelming. Sirius, in all his wisdom, had somehow manage to line up – Remus counted up to a dozen – boxes all along the edge of the Great Lake. Boxes that were half his height and of multicoloured fluorescent shades, with black and white spirals and stars that were glowing – freaking _glowing! _

So much worse than the whistle. Actually, Remus found himself silently asking for it back. After a couple minutes what looked like half the population of Hogwarts gathered up around the lake. After a while Peter returned when he thought it was safe and all of the young wolf's anger was pointed toward Sirius. _Oh boy how it was … _

James then chimed in, "It's five-to-nine, Padfoot." He informed.

Sirius' eyes swept the landscape once quickly before humming. "Well, once they start everyone'll rush over. So, without further adieu … " With his arm still locked around Remus, Sirius pulled out his wand from his pocket – hang on, where did the megaphone go? – and pointed it at the line of boxes. Then, with one flick of his wand, all hell broke loose.

**ooooooooooooooooooo**

"Well … that went better then I expected."

"You got detention every single night of the week for three months, Padfoot. _Three_."

"At least I didn't get expelled!" Sirius beamed as he and Remus walked along the corridors of Hogwarts back to their dorm room. In aspect of all that happened, it amazed Remus that Sirius still wore that broad grin on his face, like he didn't have a care in the world. Remus would never tell him (he didn't need Sirius' ego getting any bigger) but he kind of admired it.

Remus sighed and closed his eyes. Behind his lids he could still see that explosion of colours left and right, front and centre, some more vibrant and saturated than others. Stars, swirls and purple, red and green lightning bolts danced across the blue sky, exotic birds just as colourful burst out of the forbidden forest and flew over head before a shower of blue, pink and gold sparks rained down upon all the occupants of Hogwarts Castle. Yes, _all_ the occupants – meaning the teachers, too, and Dumbledore himself. Even the giant squid had risen to the surface to witness the show, splashing its large tentacles excitedly.

The fact of the matter was that Sirius' little "Presentación espectacular!" had cut into half an hour of class time, and to make matters worse, seconds after Mcgonagall had come over to the five to yell at Sirius was when Remus found out why the fireworks were illegal in 17 countries …

So many colours … so many people loosing their hair and pants … It was horrifying and, admittedly, a little amusing.

Remus and Sirius had then on spent the rest of the day in Professor Dumbledore's office writing out lines, _I shall never again set my school on fire, I shall never again set my school on fire._

James and Peter had managed to escape the scene unharmed and out of trouble, James towing Lily at hand, and the three were now waiting in the Gryffindor common room for Moony and Padfoot to return.

Remus had narrowly missed punishment with his plea that he had nothing to do with that little fiasco (he still felt bad for Sirius getting all the blame, even if he did deserve it, but the Animagus had assured Remus he didn't want him getting in trouble over it), and Dumbledore believed him since his record was so shiny and clean.

So instead he just got a "Happy Birthday!" from the Headmaster, along with a sour sherbet, and a mutter of "teacher's pet" from a grinning Sirius.

"Well you are!" Sirius teased when Remus commented on it. They just swerved a corridor to avoid Peeves. "You get away with everything! Have you ever had detention, Remy?"

"A couple times," Remus lied, but Sirius shot him a disbelieving glare, so he muttered to his shoes, "No."

"Do you ever _plan_ on getting a detention? Just for curiosity's sake."

"No, I don't, thank you!" Remus responded sternly, fixing a superior glare on Sirius.

The taller boy only barked in laughter and swung his arm around Remus' shoulders. "Aw, that is so cute!" He mock gushed.

"Gerroff! Besides, I'm a Prefect and I have a good example to set on the little'ins, so I can't go off getting detentions!"

"James is Head Boy and he has had plenty of detentions." Sirius informed.

"Yeah, but Prongs is a different case."

"How so?"

"Well, for one he doesn't go trying to blow up the school!" Remus cried, nudging Sirius in the ribs playfully.

Sirius laughed. "Ok, I'll give him that – Oh! Hey, I almost forgot – I have a present for you!" He jumped off him and began to dig around inside his coat. Sometimes Remus wondered whether Sirius has charmed them for unlimited storage.

"You mean that _thing_ wasn't the only gift?" Remus' eyes widened when Sirius finally pulled out a rectangular box with a big red ribbon tied messily on the top and held it out for Remus to take.

"Here you go!"

Remus eyed the yellow box warily. "It's not going to explode, is it?"

Sirius glared, "No, Moony. It isn't going to go _Boom_. It is an actual, solid gift."

Remus smiled in relief, took the box and they resumed walking. Sirius had to steer Remus in the right direction to make sure he didn't smash into any pillars since he was having such a hard time un-knotting the "bow" Sirius tied. Finally he got it and removed the top of the box to see two rectangular, bejewelled mirrors the size of his hand lying on a deep emerald cushion.

"Er … thanks, Padfoot."

Sirius could tell by his tone that he didn't know what they were. "They are two-way mirrors, Moony. You give them to someone and you can communicate freely with them without the use of owls. Work as good as telephones. Even better, actually."

Remus beamed up at his best friend. It was funny that just a few hours ago Remus thought he would never smile at Sirius again. "Thank you, Padfoot. It's great."

They walked in silence for a few minutes. They had almost reached the Portrait hole.

"So, what is Professor Dumbledore making you do for your detentions?" Remus asked.

Sirius shrugged. "I dunno. Probably scrub all the bathrooms sparkling, or something."

Remus smirked. "You could make friends with Moaning Myrtle."

It was Sirius' turn to smirk. "She wont be moaning the same way again if she makes friends with me."

"Ok, that is just _wrong_, Sirius!" Remus flushed.

Sirius laughed his same bark like laugh. They had reached the Gryffindor common room now. "So I'd say, that all in all the day's been pretty good!"

Remus sighed in exasperation, but smiled nevertheless. "Yeah, Sirius."

"Carpe Diem, Moony!"


End file.
